The fund, whose port­folio is cur­rently com­prised of about 40 stocks valued at more than $300,000, was raised by donors and is part of the Col­lege of Busi­ness Administration’s dis­cre­tionary hold­ings. Through this expe­ri­en­tial learning oppor­tu­nity, stu­dents are charged with main­taining the fund’s health by ana­lyzing and dis­cussing stocks to buy and sell, con­ducting bottom-​​up busi­ness analyses and keeping close tabs on trends in the global economy.

Stu­dents col­lec­tively manage the fund over a two-​​year period of courses. In the first year, stu­dents gain valu­able expe­ri­ence as equity ana­lysts by learning how to select and value stocks and by pre­senting rec­om­men­da­tions for the fund. In the second year, ana­lysts tran­si­tion into man­age­ment roles such as sector man­ager, chief of research and chief risk officer.

Stu­dents, who may grad­uate with a spe­cial­iza­tion in mutual fund man­age­ment, are charged with cap­ital allo­ca­tion respon­si­bility that fos­ters their devel­op­ment into expe­ri­enced mutual fund analysts.

The pro­gram empha­sizes exe­cuting a smart invest­ment strategy that yields long-​​term growth. “What it does is dif­fer­en­tiate North­eastern grad­uate busi­ness stu­dents from the rest of the pack,” said finance pro­fessor Harlan Platt, who super­vises the stu­dent group with Paul Bol­ster, the Donald F. Harding Pro­fessor of Finance and Insurance.

In its first four years, the fund has out­per­formed its bench­mark by 20 per­cent and won sev­eral awards for student-​​managed funds, Gilbert said.

Ear­lier this semester, the group held its annual meeting. Lawrence Rakers, MBA’93, a port­folio man­ager for Fidelity Invest­ments, won the 2011 Investor of the Year Award. Grad­uate stu­dent Derek Archila earned the 2011 Stu­dent Ana­lyst of the Year Award.

Archila, a sector man­ager who covers health care, tech­nology and telecom­mu­ni­ca­tions for the fund, said ana­lyzing stocks and being men­tored by more expe­ri­enced stu­dents in his first year pre­pared him well for taking on a bigger role.

Glob­al­iza­tion, Archila said, is con­tin­u­ally chal­lenging busi­ness leaders and investors to think big pic­ture about their invest­ments. This mindset trans­lates to the class­room, he said, where stu­dents dis­cuss invest­ments at the micro– and macro-​​levels.

“You must think out­side the box when thinking of invest­ments today,” Archila said. “You have to think glob­ally because every­thing is interconnected.”

About the Writer

Greg St. Martin is the senior editor for news@Northeastern. He joined Northeastern in March 2010 after working at a Boston newspaper for six years. Outside the office, he enjoys playing basketball, basking in the glory of finding great parking spots, and listening to the comic genius of Steven Wright. Follow on Twitter: @gstmartinNU

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